Appearance is great with a head that's thin, but still foamy. Also my Chimay glass does let the carbonation bubble up through the top and feed the head more and more.Very nice lacing, but it doesn't stick so well.

The smell is of sweet dark fruit like plum and raisan, with almost a wine smell without the strong alcohol scent. Also has aftertone traces of nutmeg.

The taste is suddle and complex at first, then the strong flavors of nutmeg, creamy plum and raisan with a little pepper flavor as well.

The mouthfeel is creamy and smooth.

Drinkability is O.K., but to answer the question of would I have another? Probably not for a little while, but I respect this beer for what it is.

Note: Be careful pouring this one... there's a lot of yeast in there, and it'll sneak past you unless you're ready. On the other hand, it's not bad if you do let it go through. Also, my bottles all had the same label which read "brewed in 2002" - I guess this was a special brew made for members of the Burgundian Babble Belt.

Carefully poured from a longstanding bottle, it's a slightly hazy chestnut brown beneath a superbly creamy head of ivory that looks like some kind of creamy soup. The head retention is excellent (particularily for a beer with an alcohol content of 12%!), and it leaves short walls of solid lace just above the surface, and some thin, residual lace throughout the goblet.

The nose is fruity (strawberry, sugared plum) with a caramelish maltiness and an occassional whiff of alcohol.

In the mouth it's lightly zesty on the tongue before billowing out into an airy cushion.

The rich, wide, and satiating flavor is full of strawberry, raisin, cola, tangerine, sugared pineapple, and some mild papaya above a puddle of caramel that's sprinkled with dry cocoa and livened by a splash of alcohol.

It finishes with a receeding fruity sweetness that leaves behind a smear of caramelish malt.

the colour, A cloudy juice with apple and pear. The smell, a yeasty odour with booze, like something not ready to serve. Taste and mouthfeel - so, so, was better than warmed. Faintest whisp of head and lace. Low carbonation, after a bit of pop in the open. Was this to be served 3 years ago, or needs 6 more months to ferment?

attractive clear ruby pour with belgian style whirlpool-top head . even the most minimal jarring creates a sturdy lace.

2002 vintage.

nose is very raisiny and sweet. vanilla and butterscotch are here too. all flavor and spice, no alcohol or yeast in the aroma. clean is the best way to describe it.

first taste brings out a yeast/malt profile very reminiscent of westvleteren 12. then i get hit with spices.. (bottle says 'valerian and lemon balm'). berries, bananas and raisins to me. sweet burnt sugar. stille nacht comes to mind in the aftertaste. funny that i drank it out of a st. bernardus glass... this beer imitates and captures certain elements of all these big belgians. well done clone- would be a great substitution for the expensive stuff if it wasnt expensive itself. good, but in a weird place ratingswise.

The beer was well behaved on the pour with a little head and a malty honey alcohol nose. It is a dark brown opaque ale with small bubbles that just looked creamy. It is creamy with an instant alcohol warmth. The taste is surprisingly light and dry with alcohol dominating the palate. Nice sweetness with a citrus dryness making for a clean finish. The label read ale with spices but I cant taste spices other than coriander is a minor way. As it warms, the flavors come together better but this may need a year or three to mellow. It also is a bit thin.

Pours a slight murky/cloudy/dirty apricot with a thick, guazey white head. I seem to really like the look of a dirty beer! Smells of caramel/toffee malts, cardamom, licorice, and big, spicy medicinal hops. Almost smells like an English Barleywine (with spices). Big malty sweetness with stewed fruit cocktail up front. Big, spicy (fennel), medicinal warming hops and alcohol come on strong and remain so into the finish. Too cough syrupy, and with the fennely spices, not the greatest combination. Cloying and syrupy big mouthfeel. Nice looking and smelling, but...taste...could barely finish.

Poured a dark amber with a light tan head. Gobs of lacing as it receded, had the same problem of a yeasty ring just under the cap, so I used crumpled tissue paper to gently swab out the bottle before pouring and it seemed to cut down on the floaters.

Smells like sweet walnuts and a spice I can't quite pin down.

It is not as sweet as some of the other BSDAs I have tried. Tastes more like a spiced Amber Ale. Hearty mouthfeel that goes down so smooth you would never suspect the 12% abv. A rather bitter finish that works well with that hard to identify spice.

A very tasty and drinkable beer. I'm looking forward to trying other beers from this brewery.

Pours a very murky deep amber color. Reminds me of apple cider. There was a small amout of sediment or crust around the mouth of the bottle-this might have made it cloudier then it should be. Nice aroma-hints of vanilla,caramel,brown sugar. Good oakey notes-earthy and yeasty. All the different smells are nicely balanced. Big sweet flavor up front-raisen like. Slightly sweet. 12%???!!!! Not from where Im sitting-high abv is very well hidden. Somewhat spicy. Very full body-a damn fine beer. I need to buy more then one next time or see if it comes in a liter size. Well worth buying.

This beer pours a dark mirky amber color. The smell is of alcohol and the ever so familiar sweet smell that comes from the belgian candy sugar that I assume was used in this brew. It resembles raisins or dates, something along that line. The taste is sweet, honey-like. It also has hints of dark fruit like dates, raisins, and alcohol is there as well. The mouthfeel is smooth. It has the perfect amount of carbonation for the amount of flavor in the beer. It is a very drinkable beer but how many of these can one actually handle. Drink one and then consider switching down to something less dangerous. I would definately recommend it.

pours a hazy copper colour, a thin receding off white head. looks nicely carbonated. had to be careful, as there was a lot of sludge in the bottle that was floating particularly high.

aroma is toffee, caramel, and a bit of an estery alcohol. not the strongest smelling beer I have had, and certainly the faintest of any belgian strong dark ale I have encountered.

Taste is fully caramel, bread notes, clay, pear, and honey. the alcohol is certainly present, but it fits with the flavour profile. finishes sweet and has a long, pleasant aftertaste of apples. overall the flavour is kind of old tasting, a bit muddled.

mouthfeel is light and effervescent. nice amount of champagne like carbonation, but not enough to kill the flavour. medium-light body. drinkability is fine as I can finish the bottle, and I don't see why you would want to drink 2 of these in a row anyhow.

A nice beer, nothing marvelous, but not bad by any means. Another notch on the belgium post, and grab it if you see it. This will not be a repeat buy for me, as it cost 4.59 for a small bottle, and I can get better belgians for cheaper.

I had to check the ratings before I rated this one. Its incredibly low carbonation. I was worried with the very weak pfssht on cracking the cap, but looking at the ratings here, its either an incredibly common problem for this beer, or a flaw in every bottle. Anyway, it pours a cloudy brown. The aroma has a nice brown sugar and honeydew melon fruitiness. The flavor adds toast and a touch of caramel to the mix. This would probably be a great beer if they pumped up the carbonation. The fact I could drink it as flat as it was says something about it.

Poured into a goblet ("trusty") at room temp, it pours a nice brownish/redish (mahogony I guess) color. I got a good deal of yeast that poured from the bottom as well and dribbled into my goblet; interesting. It left virtually no head, but only a nice edge layer on my glass. It appears to be pretty full-bodied, but it didn't look as though while I poured it. Sitting a foot and a half away, i can get scents from this beer. I get good hints of plums, raisins, and other various fruits coming to the front of my nasal passageways. Also, a hint of oak comes through as well (a dry smell i guess) and a little bitter hoppiness, which is always goodness!

first sip is interesting. Not a big as I anticipated with very little carbonation. The plums and raisin scnets come out right away followed by a hefty bit of alcohol. Also a slight yeasty finish (if that makes sense). The hops are also evident at the back of the swallow.

Mouthfeel is pretty interesting as well. It isn't a huge beer; maybe a medium body at best w/ very little carbonation. The alcohol and hops are evident and leave a nice warming feeling in my belly (great winter brew I think). The swallow is nice, and a pretty decent aftertaste as well. This is proving to be a nice find in CT (thanks Spence!!!). I'd recommend it if you can get your hands on it!!!

Drinking a bottle of this brew at room temp in a snifter. The beer pours a clear mahogany with some garnet tints, the bottom of the bottle releases some yeast dredges into the glass. I get a soft fluffy off-white head of about .5 cm to foam up. Aroma is dark fruit, ripe plums, raisins and cherries dominate, but I also detect lemon and banana as well. Actually I hint of nutmeg perhaps too. First sip reveals a thinner body than expected with very smooth, gentle and almost non-existent carbonation. Flavor is generally sweet, with ripe fruit coming through again, plums and prunes mix with caramel and again the lemon shows up. I get a bit of bitter earthy hop presence on the finish as well. A quite tasty and easy to drink beer. Very smooth for 12%.

Pours a still muddy burgundy with tons of powdery sediments. No head. No pop on opening. Very fruity nose: perfumey pears, plums, oranges, apples. Sweet caramel. woody spiciness, cinammon. Moderately yeasty. Remarkably hidden alcohol, but the flat body is very annoying and removes a big part of the excitement which is sad because there is a nice range of malt flavors and no yeasty acidity to speak of. Still, I dont know that I would enjoy this all that much as sweet as it is and with nothing to counter it. It feels like a fruity sweet full bodied red wine.

Pours the color of caramel candy apple, hazy with brown dominant and red tints. No head at all and very little evidence of any carbonation.
Aroma is coriander, spciy yeast, some burnt brown sugar and candi sugar with a hint of some dark citurs fruit.
Flavor starts with dark malt, almost chocolate hint that moves to a bready, grain alcohol hit and finishes with a heavy yeast hit.
Mouthfeel is average to me. The total lack of carbonation just does not help this beer. Sour, sweet and bitter seems to be too much to balance.
Drinkability is average at best. Beer just does not have enough to get past lack of carbonation and a real direction.

Pours a hazed copper with a big tan colored head. A careful pour from a snub-nosed bottle left lots of particles and protein coagulation left in suspension. Good lacing. Sweet, caramelly, toffee-like aromas as well as some faint old ale smells, like straight graininess, some hops and fusel alcohols and a light fruitiness. Good carbonation, which helps cut the high alcohol. Richly sweet, subtly grassy and botanical, and lightly tropical in it's starfruit-like fruitiness. Mild spicing evident, certainly not overwhelming, but hard to decipher any specifics. This beer certainly hides it's boasty 12% ABV pretty well with an array of sensations on the palate, but note it is an asskicker.